Not Alone
by Braelyn Briar
Summary: Raven's suffered her own heartache and the resident green shape shifter steps up to show her that she's not alone. Oneshot, a companion piece to my fic Raven's Intervention.


**Disclaimer: I do not own any of those things, characters, situations, or ideas trademarked by other respective parties. This is fan fiction written by me using ideas from other media. Should you recognize a pop culture reference that is because **_**it is a pop culture reference**_**. No copyright infringement or plagiarism is intended. Also, I have footnotes for the song lyrics I used so those artists get proper recognition.**

**AN: Due to multiple requests for a follow up oneshot for **_**Raven's Intervention**_**, I have here, for your reading pleasure, **_**You're Not Alone**_**. Thanks to The Brod Road for the plot idea of Garfield reciprocating Raven's intervention when she experiences her own heartache. Hope you like!**

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><p><em>Raven? It's me. Look, I'm sorry.<em> Who would have thought that Beast Boy of all people would be at her door and apologizing? Well, okay, so Beast Boy seemed like he was _always_ at her door apologizing, but this time it wasn't because he'd pulled some juvenile prank. He hadn't pestered her all day with stupid jokes. He hadn't accidentally ruined any of her irreplaceable books. He hadn't called her creepy. In fact, he hadn't done anything at all. _No, I'm sorry that… he broke your heart._ So what? Beast Boy was just going to take it upon himself to apologize on behalf of mankind for producing manipulative liars in the first place? That wasn't fair, not to him and not to mankind…Malchior wasn't even a man to begin with. It was just, everything he'd said, everything she thought he was, it was all something she'd wanted to believe so badly that she'd missed all the signs that he was a liar.

How could she have been so stupid? So easy to fool? Was she really so pathetic that it would take so little to manipulate her into not only using dark magic, but to make her believe he actually cared about her? That she was more to him than just his ticket out of that book? He had her eating out of the palm of her hand and like a fool, a foolish love struck girl, she gave him what he wanted. He used her and tossed her aside like so much rubbish. It didn't matter that her friends had kept him from getting past the Tower. It didn't matter that she'd managed to trap him in Rorek's book once more. And it didn't matter that she'd put an enchantment on the book that magically silenced Malchior so that he could never use his silver tongue to manipulate another as she had been manipulated. It mattered that she'd trusted him and he'd betrayed her.

She _never_ should have trusted him! Why hadn't she learned her lesson?! You can't trust anyone! You have to be alone because the only one you can trust is yourself!

_Okay, fine, you're way creepy, but that doesn't mean you have to stay locked in your room. You think you're alone Raven, but you're not._ Beast Boy's words rang in her mind, playing over and over again as she paced her darkened room. Okay, so maybe she _did_ have some people she could trust. But she couldn't help but feel like Beast Boy's words rang…hollow. After all, it'd been a week since…since, and the repairs for the Tower had only been finished that morning, but…well, nothing had changed. She locked herself in her room and everyone went about their business. It wasn't like she was just expecting her friends to drop everything and come pity her, that wasn't at all what she wanted, but…some acknowledgement that she'd screwed up? Some sign that maybe they understood why? That they understood _her_?

She'd hugged Beast Boy for crying out loud. _She_, the demon spawn of Trigon the Terrible, _hugged_ _Beast Boy_, the annoying green elf. And despite his words…he'd just stood there. He stood there before _pushing her away_. Granted she wasn't really the 'hug it out' type of person but would it have killed him to give her even a pat on the back? Some acknowledgement of her reaching out to him in her time of need? Was he really so…repulsed by her? Feeling a hated and familiar stinging in her eyes Raven squashed down her unruly emotions and decided she'd be better equipped to handle herself if she had a soothing cup of herbal tea in her hands. Taking a deep breath to compose herself, Raven made her way to her door. It swooshed open and she took a step forward when, unexpectedly, her foot connected with something.

Looking down in surprise Raven's eyebrows shot up at what she found. Innocently sitting on the hallway carpet, knocked over due to her unintentional abuse, was a small stuffed chicken. Her brow furrowed in confusion as she bent down and scooped it up. Nope, her eyes hadn't been deceiving her, it was a chicken plushy that sat almost perfectly in one of her palms. Even stranger than a random stuffed chicken lying in the hallway was that tied around its neck with white twine was a folded note. Glancing down the hallway in both directions Raven failed to find anyone watching her and she didn't sense anyone near either. Shrugging off her apprehension that this might be some sort of prank, Raven untied the note from the chicken.

_I've been alone surrounded by darkness  
>I've seen how heartless the world can be<br>I've seen you crying, you felt like it's hopeless  
>I'll always do my best to make you see<br>Baby, you're not alone 'cause you're here with me _(1)

Raven found herself rereading the note with baffled incomprehension. It was written in a familiar hand and that only served to make Raven more confused. What was Beast Boy getting at? The words scrawled along in black ink until the last line in which 'you're not alone' had been bolded in purple ink followed by 'cause you're here with me' in green. All thoughts of fetching herself a cup of calming tea were out the door as Raven stepped back into her room to brood on this new development.

=^.^= =^.^= =^.^= =^.^=

It was another three days before she found his next note. Raven had just started spending time in the common room again and everyone had been about their usual business, doing their best, she was sure, to make everything seem like normal since that's what _she'd_ done when she made the overt gesture to leave her most recent book on the end table as she'd often done in the past. Raven hadn't asked Beast Boy about the chicken or its message and he hadn't said anything. The both of them simply acted as if it didn't even exist. Currently Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing some mind numbing, violence heavy game and were bickering about the realistic-ness of the graphics and plot. Robin was pretending to read the paper and having a cup of coffee when really he was watching Starfire mixing an inedible concoction and humming happily to herself in the kitchen.

Raven had just finished brewing a perfect cup of tea and sat herself on her usual end of the couch. She set down her tea mug and picked up her book. Flipping open to the page she'd marked with a stray scrap of paper she paused when she realized that it wasn't a stray scrap of paper tucked between the pages.

_With arms up stretched into the sky  
>With eyes like echoes in the night<br>Hiding from the hell that you've been through  
>Silent one...You are not alone <em>(2)

The bookmark was homemade and looked like a lot of time went into its creation. It was black and blue with a scattering of white specks reminiscent of a star-strewn sky. The words were painstakingly painted out and perfectly legible; surprisingly so considering the usual impatience the artist usually scrawled away with. The bookmark's tassel was a braided green and purple chord. Flipping it over Raven had to suppress the urge to laugh. Somebody had gotten hold of a camera and had had what looked like a _lot_ of fun taking candid pictures of their friends and cropping them for the—ahem—best effect.

They were all headshots in various states of surprise. Robin's picture was of him obviously trying not to make a face as what looked like Starfire's hand had just shoved a spoon into his mouth. Whatever was on it apparently didn't taste very good. Next to that was Starfire's picture which was…odd to say the least. She'd apparently visited a beauty supply store and hadn't necessarily used any of the typical references for how to apply any of the products…unless you counted National Geographic. She looked like she was about to celebrate a Mayan human sacrifice or as some sort of extra from an Indiana Jones movie. It was a little disturbing and the wide shining eyes were definitely at odds with the deep red makings that were everywhere but her lips.

Next was a rather surprising picture of Raven herself…actually, she kind of looked like she was almost smiling…she was. In fact, she actually remembered him taking this picture. It was a few months ago and he'd been pestering her for a while. Because he'd been so annoying, almost all of his pictures of her were of her scowling, snarling, frowning, or otherwise not so friendly looking. This particular instance though…apparently he'd been bound and determined that he get one where she wasn't threatening bodily harm at him. He'd made her tea, fetched her an apple, and had actually unplugged the TV and Gamestation, before getting on his knees and begging. She hadn't meant to, but she'd actually looked up over her book, brow cocked, and felt her lips twitch up at the corners. He'd wasted no time snapping the photo before crowing in triumph and dashing from the room. From what she understood later, he'd won some sort of bet with Cyborg that if he could actually prove he could make Raven smile Cyborg would have to eat Tofurky for lunch. _That_ would have been enough to make her smile.

She shook her head and moved on to the next picture. Raven fully expected Beast Boy's picture to be of him making what _he'd_ consider to be a suave expression, or maybe even grinning from ear to ear. Instead, Beast Boy was obviously trying to take a selfie and it hadn't turned out quite like he'd probably hoped. She wasn't sure what exactly he'd been trying to do, but the expression on his face was one of panic and it was cockeyed. He'd either been leaning on something that gave way or someone had shoved him, but never-the-less, his eyes were wide, his mouth was open and it looked an awful lot like he was upside down. Whatever the case may be, it was amusing. As was Cyborg's picture. It looked like he was rather enthusiastically singing into a wrench with oil stains smeared across his forehead and one cheek. She could just imagine what his expression had morphed into as soon as he registered the flash and a giggling green elf.

Taking her completely by surprise, a small laugh bubbled up from her belly and her tea mug exploded. Startled, everyone turned to look at her. She cleared her throat, placing the bookmark back in her book and used her powers to clean up the mess. She then, ever so casually, made her way towards her room. She was even able to keep the smile from her face until the common room doors whooshed shut behind her.

=^.^= =^.^= =^.^= =^.^=

Just when Raven thought she had the whole Malchior incident sufficiently forgotten, her subconscious mind would rear up and shove it back in her face. Shaking and fighting back the urge to start crying, because she _refused_ to shed anymore tears because of _him_, she threw back her covers and climbed out of bed. All she needed was a nice, soothing cup of tea. It had only been a nightmare; a stupid, insignificant nightmare…but, it'd been real too. She _had_ believed him. She _had_ trusted him. He _had_ betrayed her. Granted the part where it turned out he worked for Slade _hadn't_ happened, but…she shook her head. Just when she got to the common room doors, they whooshed open and she collided with something warm and solid. Hands caught her arms and stopped her from bouncing off and she wasn't quite surprised to find that they were green.

"Raven?" Beast Boy asked groggily. "What are you doing up?" he yawned, releasing her so he could give himself a scratch behind the ear.

"I could ask the same of you." she replied evasively.

Unfortunately Beast Boy wasn't quite as bleary minded as he seemed because he picked up on it. "Is everything okay?" he asked in concern.

"Bad dream." she told him dismissively. "Just came down to get a cup of tea."

"Oh yeah? Me too." he smiled tiredly.

She arched a brow, "You came down to get a cup of tea?" she asked.

He rolled his eyes, "Har-dee-har. I meant that a bad dream chased me down here for a glass of soy milk." He rubbed the back of his head, "Do you…did you want to talk about it?" he asked hesitantly.

Raven bit her lip. She did _not_ want to talk about her nightmare, however, considering the turn her own nightmare had taken she felt she had a pretty good guess what _his_ nightmare had been about. It wasn't the first time Raven had picked up on her friends' dreams before. Was he asking her about hers because he wanted to talk about his? She wouldn't talk about hers, but if Beast Boy wanted to talk about his…"If you'd like to discuss your nightmare I will, of course, be willing to listen." She kept her tone firm with only the slightest of stresses on 'your'.

He smiled wryly, "No, I think I'm good." He shook his head, "Well, I'm going to head back to bed. Don't stay up too late." He waved before wishing her a good night and he disappeared down the hallway.

It was the next morning that she found his next note.

_Life can show no mercy, it can tear your soul apart  
>It can make you feel like you've gone crazy, but you're not<br>Things have seemed to change, there's one thing that's still the same  
>In my heart you have remained, and we can fly fly fly away<br>'Cause you are not alone, and I am there with you  
>And we'll get lost together, 'til the light comes pouring through<br>'Cause when you feel like you're done, and the darkness has won  
>Baby, you're not lost <em>(3)

Raven wasn't sure when he'd pulled it off since she'd just used that mug the night before and he hadn't made an appearance yet this morning, but when she pulled her favorite mug down from the shelf, inside had been two origami paper cranes; green and purple cranes to be precise. Around their necks was looped a folded over piece of paper. Beast Boy had, again, taken to using colors in that he had 'fly fly fly away' in purple and green in addition to the 'you are not alone' and 'I am there with you'. Apparently he hadn't needed her to talk to him to figure out what had been bothering her. All of a sudden her eyes pricked and her nose tingled and just like the night before, she felt the urge to start crying. And just like the night before she fought back that urge; not because she didn't want to cry over Malchior, but because she'd never known Beast Boy to be so thoughtful.

Yes, mature was definitely a good look for Garfield.

=^.^= =^.^= =^.^= =^.^=

It was just after Mad Mod's attempt to ruin the fourth of July that Raven found Garfield's next note. He'd gone around annoying everyone with his completely horrible British accent. She'd threatened him a couple of times but she suspected that Gar picked up on how half-hearted she was being. Maybe it was that, or maybe he just felt the need to try to make her smile. He _had_ mentioned something about how that was a goal of his at one point or another.

Her sneak attack plan to get that cane away from Mod should have worked. She wasn't sure why it hadn't and it didn't say much about her ability to lead the team that her plan failed. Granted all of their individual plans had failed, but still, it was a humbling feeling knowing that she rather lacked leadership skills. Maybe she really ought to try spending more time analyzing how Robin went about it?

Regardless, the fact that it was a lesson on learning from the past in order to move forward that allowed them to win the day stuck with Raven even now, a week later. Granted Raven was much more given to self-reflection than any of her teammates, this particular idea was proving more thought provoking than the usual. Perhaps, rather than tearing herself down for her foolishness and gullibility, she should try to learn from her mistakes and make herself stronger for it?

Unfortunately, old habits die hard and self-flagellation ran deep. Raven was just coming back from a rather punishing session of training in the gym when something metallic caught her eye. Lying on the floor was a purple guitar pick. Curious she picked it up to see the number ten on one side and the words '_and everything can change'_ on the other. Confused but rather certain that this had something to do with Garfield, Raven pocketed the small piece of plastic and made her way to her room.

Over the next three days Raven engaged in something of a scavenger hunt. She found green and purple guitar picks everywhere, especially in places she least expect them including one under her pillow (and oh was he going to get an earful if she caught him in her room again!), one taped to her toothbrush, and one sitting in the fruit bowl under the last apple. On the rare occasion she found one of her teammates scratching their heads over a little colorful piece of plastic, she hastily informed them it was something she'd dropped and snatched it safely to her room. When she'd finally collected all the picks from one to "Fin", which apparently meant 'End' in French of all things, she had the following message:

_I won't turn around, let it all slip away  
>I'm never backing down, cause tomorrow's a new day<br>And everything can change  
>And after all that we've been through and after all we left in pieces<br>I still believe our lives have just begun_

_Cause now the past can be outrun _

_And I know you are the reason I still believe the best is yet to come_ (4)

Garfield was taking 'sounding like a rock star' a little too far, Raven thought with a tiny smile. Content to dedicate tomorrow to overcoming old habits, Raven spent the rest of the day fastening small pieces of green and purple plastic to a framed canvas.

=^.^= =^.^= =^.^= =^.^=

She should have realized something was wrong when he started acting up. He'd been eating meat for Azar's sake! He'd almost attacked her! Some friend she was that she didn't realize that the Garfield that had been leaving her all those notes and being so thoughtful wasn't the kind of guy to just suddenly turn into a total jerk overnight. All she'd thought on the matter was that it would be pointless to keep her eye out for any more notes. She'd been _disappointed_ rather than worried like she _should_ have been. Why hadn't she _sensed_ that something was the matter with him?

Gar was physically fine now, but emotionally? He was wracked with guilt. He felt absolutely horrible and right now he was avoiding her. He was still worried that Robin's initial suspicions as to who had hurt her had actually been correct. She needed to find him and make sure he was okay. Needed him to know that he hadn't hurt her, he'd _saved_ her.

Knocking on his door proved to be fruitless, as did calling out to him, but on the off chance he was in there and just avoiding her, she used her powers to open his door; having given prior warning of course. Rather than a green teen, she was met with absolute destruction. Granted Garfield's room often looked like a hurricane had passed through but this? This was wholesale ruin. His sheets and mattresses were shredded, his possessions scattered and ripped through, his bed and desk were actually _broken in half_. When had he done this and how had none of them heard it happening?

Comic books, actual books, clothes both civilian and uniform, a lamp, board games, pizza boxes, his dresser, various toys that she'd assumed had held a great deal of sentimental value, his computer, the walls, the shattered window…nothing escaped whatever he'd done in there; which was all too likely a fight for his very life considering Adonis had broken in through said window. She shook her head in dismay as she scanned the wreckage. No wonder he wasn't in here. She wouldn't want to be surrounded by such a visual reminder of the past couple of days if it'd happened to her. She hesitated as she debated whether she ought to leave or not. Maybe she could…she nodded. Using a portal to teleport herself to the Tower basement she scavenged up a bunch of empty or nearly empty boxes that she was quickly able to make completely empty. Teleporting herself back into Gar's room she sorted various debris into different boxes using her powers.

When she'd swept up the last of the loose papers, dumping them into the box she'd designated for that very purpose, a flash of color caught her eye. She didn't want to snoop but…well it had been a crumpled up ball with writing…green and purple writing. Glancing around to make sure no one was watching, she snatched up the crumpled paper.

_Your heart is full of broken dreams, just a faded memory  
>And everything's gone but the pain carries on<br>Lost in the rain again, when will it ever end?  
>The arms of relief seem so out of reach<br>But I, I am here  
>I am with you, I will carry you through it all<br>I won't leave you, I will catch you when you feel like letting go  
>'Cause you're not, you're not alone<em> (5)

Maybe it was just her imagination, maybe it was just the fact that Gar hadn't bothered to deliver this one, but for some reason, this note didn't have the same _feel_ that the others had. It felt like the message attached to this one was different than the others; that it was meant as more than just for her. Maybe it was just the fact that Gar had now gone through yet another difficult ordeal that he'd more or less had to deal with on his own. But it felt as if he wasn't just saying that she wasn't alone, but that it was more personal for him too. Maybe it had something to do with the Beast's reaction of trying to protect her even when that very afternoon his human-self had been so angry with her. Whatever the case, she knew she really needed to find Gar.

In hindsight, she probably should have checked the shoreline first. After all, that's where he went when he'd been thinking about _her_, so it'd stand to reason that when he was worrying about his own possible betrayal of the team he'd go there. She wasn't surprised that he knew she was there before she'd said anything. He always seemed to know with those enhanced senses of his.

"So, he was the one that hurt you, right? Not me?" he asked, his whole body drooped in dread and shame.

"Adonis broke into the Tower to attack you and wound up attacking me too." she reassured him, absentmindedly touching her shoulder. If it hadn't been for her healing powers she'd have lost that entire arm. Unfortunately, Gar wasn't really listening to her. He was so wrapped up in the idea that he was some sort of feral creature and less than a man, that he wasn't really crediting just how much she owed him at the moment. Not just for saving her life but…far more than that too.

It wasn't just his little gestures or his notes, it was the fact that she had a tendency to find those right after something happened to make her start doubting herself again. Whether it was a nightmare, or she just felt lonely, Gar was there. And he had never been overt about it either. He kept them small, easily overlooked by the others so that she could save face and not feel embarrassed. He catered to her preferences, not because they coincided with his—because they didn't—but just because he'd taken the time to notice them and acted accordingly, because that was what she'd be comfortable with.

If someone had told Raven when she first joined the Titans that the annoying green elf and she would one day share such a strange bond, that stemmed from getting their hearts broken by people they thought cared about them only to be utterly betrayed, Raven would have scoffed, mostly because she didn't laugh. But here she was. It wasn't so long ago that she'd confronted Gar about his severe depression following Terra's betrayal and 'death'. And only a few weeks ago, he'd come to her to help her through the aftermath of Malchior's treachery.

Raven ran her hand across her pocket, reassuring herself that Garfield's last note was safely tucked away. It would be his last note, she'd make sure of it. She wouldn't mention it; he'd never even know she'd ever gotten it. But she did. She was stronger than this. Stronger than she'd left herself become. And she'd prove it, to herself and to him. She was touched by just how deeply Garfield took his role as her friend to heart. How much he was determined to prove to her that she wasn't alone. But it was her turn now. She would be the arms of relief for a shattered world and hurting soul. She would show him that she knew she'd never have to suffer alone, and neither would he; not if she had anything to say about it.

"Yeah, but that thing, that Beast, it came from inside me. And it's still there. I can feel it." he admitted with shame, his whole body drooping with it.

"Good." she told him with conviction, startling him. "If it wasn't for that Beast, I might not be here right now." He was stronger than this. He might not feel like it right now, but he was. He just needed a helping hand to remember it. "Having that thing inside doesn't make you an animal. Knowing when to let it out, is what makes you a man." She'd make sure he'd remember. After all, he wasn't alone.

**AN2: Song Lyrics for BB's Notes**

Not Alone – Daren Criss

Not Alone – Linkin Park

Lost – Michael Buble

Best is Yet to Come – Red

Not Alone – Red

**So, obviously not a chapter for **_**Shades**_**, yeah, sorry about that. I'm really struggling with this chapter, making little to no progress. I have where I need it to go, but getting it to go that way is proving a great deal harder than I think it ought to be. I'm working on it I swear! But in the mean time, I hope you liked this companion piece to **_**Raven's Intervention**_**. In fact, why don't you let me know? Leave me your thoughts! As always, thanks for reading and any reviews, and remember to stay tuned for more BBRae!**


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